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Why is Shinzo Abe stirring the Japan-China pot with remarks about ‘suicidal’ attack on Taiwan?
- Two warnings about Chinese military action by the former PM in as many weeks may be aimed both at Beijing and Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party: analysts
- Some say Abe is now free to say what he was thinking all along as leader. Others suggest he is trying to box in PM Fumio Kishida, who is perceived as ‘pro-China’
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Two pointed comments over Japan’s close ties to Taiwan in the space of a couple of weeks by Shinzo Abe serve as warnings to both China’s Communist Party and Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, where the former prime minister remains an influential voice behind the scenes, analysts say.
On Tuesday, Abe said in an online address to a security forum that Beijing must avoid antagonising other nations and stop demanding more territory from its neighbours.
“An adventure in military affairs, if pursued by such a huge economy as China’s, could be suicidal,” said Abe, who stepped down in October of last year but has chosen not to settle into the role of a backbencher.
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“We must urge it not to pursue territorial expansion and restrain from provoking, often bullying, its neighbours because it could harm its own interests,” he added.
Abe’s comments came after an appearance at an event organised by a Taiwanese think tank on December 1 in which he emphasised that any military contingency involving Taiwan would also constitute an emergency for Japan and permit Tokyo to exercise the right to collective self-defence under the constitution.
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Those comments attracted swift criticism from Beijing, which considers Taiwan to be a renegade province that must eventually be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
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